Paul “Cactus Jack” Lamarr Produces Christmas Musical
Paul Lamarr, also known as Cactus Jack, has created a Christmas musical that is capturing hearts in Utah. “A Time of Forgiving” is a musical about a man who has left his family. It is Christmas Eve, their anniversary and their daughter’s birthday. The wife depends on everyone thinking her life is perfect—and it’s about to become obvious it isn’t. Their daughter is going to learn about forgiveness whether or not there is a happy ending. And the husband will learn that he has to take responsibility for his own problems. Despite all the programs this family faces, the musical is uplifting and warm.
Many aspects of the program come from Cactus Jack’s own life. He was born in Utah, but moved to Australia in 1988, where many feel he became entirely Australian. Two years ago, he decided to sell everything he owned, return to Utah, and start carrying out his dream of writing and performing music. He rented a cabin in Park City and created a music studio for his guitar, grand piano, and violin, all of which he had taught himself to play long ago. On December 1, 2011, he took his first CD, a Christmas album to Deseret Book, which is Mormon owned. Lamarr is also a Mormon. They gently explained that it was too late to start selling his Christmas music this year. It took too long to get into the system, distributed, and promoted. He went to nearby Temple Square, the home of the Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City, Utah, to sooth his sorrow and to reflect on what to do next. While there, he received a call from executive Debbie Simmons, an executive at Deseret Book. She had just listened to his CD and fallen in love with it. She asked for 2000 copies of it immediately. The CD became a Deseret Book best-seller, topping the chart in the number one position. They happily purchased his next CD as well and he began touring. (more…)
The study notes that older Americans are more religious than younger Americans, with eighty-year-olds being the most religious and twenty-three-year-olds the least religious. Women are the most religious at any age, and this is true in most other countries as well. There are also differences in race (blacks are the most religious race), geographical location (southerners are more religious than northerners), and income levels (the wealthy are less religious, but attend church as often as those with less money).
It has always been that way, ever since I was little. I believe I grew to love Christmas first because of my mother. When you are a young child it’s common to often turn to your parent’s opinions to form your own, which is exactly what I did. My mom knew the words to every Bing Crosby song and consistently played the Carpenter’s Christmas Album every year. I could see it in her eyes when she went down to the storage closet to bring out the decorations. Her excitement has caused me to still feel those butterflies in my stomach when I go to turn on her same Christmas music in my home today. 
Latter-day Saints (nicknamed “Mormons” as a result of belief in a volume of scripture titled, The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ— recording God’s interaction with ancient inhabitants of the Americas), do celebrate many traditional holidays, including
Through that experience we became awakened to a new and wonderful dimension of the idea of being home for Christmas. A mission would bring the first Christmas away from home for most missionaries, maybe all of them. It would be quite a different experience from the traditions of family gatherings they were accustomed to. I wondered: Can a branch of a pine tree, tied inartistically with a bit of red ribbon, and a candle on a table in a humble missionary apartment make a Christmas? Would they hang their stockings, and if they did would they fill their own or each other’s? What about the lights on the tree they were used to? What about all the good food? Could they experience a real Christmas away from all the family traditions that seem to make it real?